25 B-schools that lead to the most student debt

Source: CNN Fortune

MBA students at top business schools are borrowing more money than ever to pay for their degrees.

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

The average debt carried on the back of graduating MBAs at Wharton increased by nearly $5,000 last year to a record $109,836, the highest debt burden reported by any business school. Wharton MBAs now graduate with debt that is more than a third higher than their counterparts at Harvard Business School and Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

The largest year-over-year increase in student debt was at Dartmouth’s Tuck School, where the average debt burden of a class of 2010 MBA rose by more than $10,000 to $96,292, second only to Wharton grads.

Financial aid officers at B-schools attribute the rising debt levels to the recent recession, which led to pay freezes at pre-MBA jobs and caused applicants to tap into personal savings, as well as the increasing costs of tuition.

“Two years ago, the class came in with much greater financial aid,” says Diane Bonin, director of financial aid at the Tuck School. “People coming in made a little bit less and had much less in available savings due to the economy.”